Project Update: Wicked Wanda's by Bar Mills

The oldest project now is finished. It has taken me 4++ years to do it. For the most part it sat on a shelf collecting dust. It was very hard to re-motivate myself but it was something I had to do. The unfinished projects just kept accumulating taking up valuable shelf space. Not to mention all painted, purchased detail pieces and figures in little containers everywhere.
This is the first one of two or three projects I want to finish before building something new. The commissioned ones don't count. Ideally it would be nice to finish all of them but spending a year or so working on old stuff seems a little unrealistic. The ratio of 2:1 or 3:1 is something I can handle.
The problem with really old projects is that they reflect my ideas from 3 or 4 years ago. A lot has changed since then. I wouldn't construct diorama the same way now. Good thing including Wanda's I had only two projects in diorama construction phase. I am free to do the other ones new way. Only I have to keep in mind that once I start building diorama I need to make sure I finish it. Few years down the road thing may look differently.

Drawing Board News: Bun's Seed and Feed by E.L.Moore

In 4+ years I have been in the hobby I have accumulated quite impressive number of kits. I have built some 30+. I surprised myself when I counted them all. It isn't the only thing I do, i.e. collect and build kits. I also collect reference material of various structures I hope one day to scratchbuild. The material consists of photos, plans from magazines, drawings from Library of Congress, etc. Once in awhile I get bit by the bug to do scratchbuilding project. I have started few of those and all of them are based on photos. I usually hit a roadblock when I need to figure the dimensions. Many of the structures are monster sized in HO scale. They need to be selectively compressed. I am not quite certain what is the best way to do it and this is where my interest vanishes. Because of that I am trying different approach this time around. I am using plans drawn by E.L.Moore and published in MRR. The dimensions have been figured out already. All I need to do is to finely tune up everything. I may add, remove or change features as I go to make the structure more interesting, to add a little more character.
I am using CAD software to do this. TurboCAD in particular. The maker of it used to sell outdated versions for very low price. They even used to offer one extremely outdated for free. It was limited to 2D. Not like I do much of 3D though. Actually I do non of it. Anyway, I know how to use TurboCAD and it fits my needs. One feature in particular I like is ability to load a picture and draw over it. The neat thing is that it loads the pictures in real size. That eliminates a need for measuring tools and is more accurate. I can scan some scale windows, load pictures, trace over openings and create templates for cutting window glass. Or use it for some other purpose.
So far I have traced the plans and have created three sided drawing. Next step would be to match all dimensions, make changes to the design if desired, and proceed to engineering part.

Project Update: The Magic Shop by FOS Scale Models

I have added contact me gadget to my blog. I don't know when has it become available. I am quite sure it wasn't when I started this blog. Anyway, now anyone including bots and spammers can contact me for whatever reason. Go ahead email me.
On another note I have learned recently that AK Interactive founders, Mig and the main man behind Valejo, have split up. It is a little old news. All of this happened back in October. The fallout of this is that AK Interactive US distribution has disapeared. The product is still available directly from Spain but I am quite sure delivery time and cost have increased. Weathering Magazine is now being run solely by Mig. I am not sure about its future though. At least first four issues I own relied heavily on AK Interactive and Valejo products. The situation is kind of odd now. Will Mig still advertise and support his former partner by including articles in his magazine that reference to AK weatering products and Valejo paints? Or will he promote home brewed solutions? I would vote for latter. With some product lines going away or getting harder to obtain it would be nice to know the bassics.
Oh yeah! The main topic is Magic Shop progress. Despite having my hands full with Tidewater, Ideal Hosiery, and yet another diorama I have almost finished, I have managed to inch forward this project a little. I don't have much to report other than the fact that the structure has not so common shape and therefore some care needs to be taken gluing walls together. The pictures tell the rest.

What's in the box: Shady Grove Texaco by Bar Mills Models

Change of manufacturer for the last installment of this WITB run.

Project Update: Tidewater Wharf by Builders in Scale

Let me start a little off topic first. When I learned about discontinuation of Floquil and Polyscale paint lines I thought no biggie. I very rarely use Polyscale paints to paint my structures. I prefer craft acrylics instead. I find Floquil to be good for airbrushing. However, for my applications like painting Jordan cars any solvent based paint would do the job. It is worth to mention at this point that Testors is owned by Rust-Oleum. I've used Rust-Oleum automotive primers for a quite few years. I use black on everything that is painted black afterwards and at some point I used gray on everything else before I started using Camouflage paint on detail parts that represent wood. They aren't ideal primers especially gray. I don't know if it is temperature, humidity, quality or other factors but once in awhile I get orange skin looking surface. I have been looking into alternatives but so far I haven't made any steps in that direction. I guess, it is hard to break old habits. Anyway, I was low on both black and gray primers and it so happened I had to go to Home Depot. I thought I would pick up couple of spray cans there. To my surprise black primer wasn't available. A little disappointed I got home, got online to see who had it. When I did search on Rust-Oleum site for automotive primer I didn't get the results I expected. They didn't contain any of automotive primers I have been using. It looks like they either have been discontinued or relabeled/repackaged. Now that's a real bummer. Good thing I was passing another Home Depot yesterday where they had both colors available. I picked up 5 spray cans of each color. I wonder what their shelf life is. It doesn't seem they will sit on the shelf for a long though.
Now that I have left primer problem off of my chest I am ready to say few words about this new project I am working on. It is Tidewater Wharf by BiS. The kit itself looks like younger brother of FSM kits. It attempts to follow the steps of older brothers but still not quite there yet. That could be the reason why my build process is so chaotic. I have number of finished sub-assemblies but nothing in one piece yet. What is driving me crazy is pre-cut stripwood. Each piece has to be handled separately what is time consuming. Especially when I have to read the instructions to determine if particular piece has to be painted or stained. I am not sure if pre-cut stripwood is 90s fad or just over-thinking by manufacturer. I guess I'll find out when I build FSM kit from the same era. As for now below is the picture of few parts I found was worth taking photo of.

What's in the box: Little Lou's Grill by FOS Scale Models

I believe it is 5th anniversary kit.

Project Update: Ideal Hosiery by FOS Scale Models

Sometimes I just hate myself. I had everything ready to finish the diorama past Thursday. Instead of working on it after I got home from work I watched a show I DVRed previously. Then I played a game on my tablet. When I got to my workbench it wasn't enough time left to make some serious impact. I did all this nonsense stuff knowing perfectly that I would possible not have much modeling time next day and absolute zero on Saturday and Sunday. Surely, Friday I got home past 10PM and I was so tired that I could hit a bed right away. Still I decided to work on diorama until 12AM and then try finishing up the rest early Saturday morning. I don't know where did that extra juice come from but I managed to finish the project that night though. I would say I was riding on pure adrenaline but where is the adrenaline in model building. Anyway, I guess it is time to list it on eBay and generate some modeling cash.